Magical Maladies
by agentmoppet
Summary: A/N: Quidditch League Season Four – Seeker (Wasps) – Prompt: Pairing Diversity - Lucius Malfoy and Molly Weasley. We will accept romantic, platonic and familial relationships for this round.


_**A/N:** Quidditch League Season Four – Seeker (Wasps) – Prompt: Pairing Diversity - Lucius Malfoy and Molly Weasley. We will accept romantic, platonic and familial relationships for this round. _

"Oh dear," Molly repeated, gazing at the man in front of her. "Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear."

The man hiccuped, covered his mouth, and burst into a fit of giggles. "You flatter me." His deep voice rang out through the hospital ward. "You must tell me your name, my _dear_." On the word 'dear', he burst into laughter so deep he nearly fell off his chair.

Molly looked around the corridor, but no help was forthcoming – she was the only one available. For the first time, she felt a small twinge of regret at signing up for the volunteers list at St. Mungo's.

No sooner had the thought crossed her mind than she drew herself up to her full height, gave herself a silent but no less severe talking-to, and sat down next to the man on the chair.

"I think we'd better start with your name," she said gently. "Do you remember it?"

"A name," the man said thoughtfully, chewing on his lip. "A name. Do I have one? I suppose I must." He turned to her, grey eyes beseeching. "Do you know it?"

Molly nodded, smiling calmly even though she could feel her heart thudding in her chest. "It's Lucius Malfoy. Does that sound familiar?"

Lucius face became stricken. "Malfoy?" he groaned. "Oh, blast it all, don't tell me I'm a Malfoy."

Molly blinked rapidly. "Why ever not?" she asked before she could stop to think.

Lucius leaned back against the wall, his head smacking against the plaster. "Because _Malfoy's_ are sneaky, slimy, devilish little blighters."

Molly realised that her mouth was hanging open. She promptly shut it. "I think we'd better go see if that doctor is ready for you," she said, her voice squeaking a little.

She stood up and held her hand out to help Lucius. He stared at her hand vaguely, before grabbing it and pumping it up and down in a furious handshake.

"Lucius Malfoy," he said with a grin. "Pleased to meet you."

Molly groaned.

After an amount of coercion and bribery in the form of imaginary chocolate, she got Lucius into a standing position and they began to walk slowly down the hall. Her volunteer training indicated that she was meant to ask the basic questions – what happened, are you in pain, are you bleeding, are you missing any part of your body that you weren't before – and then sit them in the waiting room until the doctor could see them. But the way Lucius was acting was so bizarrely out of character that Molly didn't want to wait any longer. It must be some severe spell damage. Unless-

Molly sniffed the air delicately. "Have you been drinking?"

Lucius stumbled as he leaned forward to leer at her. "Why? You have something in mind?"

There was no smell of alcohol on him, so Molly reluctantly returned to the spell damage theory. She had only seen spell damage this severe on one other person. Gosh, what a shame that had been. Such a waste of a wonderful life, even if it had turned out that he had embellished a few things here and there.

"Dr. Mandra!" she called out, seeing the senior doctor leaving the room just ahead. "Do you have a minute? I believe we have an emergency."

Dr. Mandra snapped to attention. "Is he in pain? Bleeding? Anything missing?"

Molly shook her head. "Only his memory."

Dr. Mandra took hold of Lucius' other hand and lead him gently into the room. He looked back at Molly with an expression of such wounded betrayal, that she felt compelled to hover in the doorway.

"How did he get here?" Dr. Mandra asked, casting a few diagnostic spells over her patient, who now looked extremely affronted at all the wand-waving.

"I don't know," Molly admitted. "He was just sitting in the waiting room when I returned to collect some patient questionnaires."

Dr. Mandra looked up in disbelief. "He got here by himself?" I find that very difficult to-"

"Father!" An anxious voice interrupted their conversation.

Lucius looked up abruptly. "Father," he repeated slowly. "Father. Son. Draco!" He turned to the doorway and bellowed. "Draco!"

Draco hurried around the corner, skidding to a halt when he saw the tiny room full of people. "Father," he hissed. "What are you doing here? I told you to wait on the sofa, and I'd be back with the antidote in a moment."

Lucius held up his finger dramatically. There was a tiny droplet of blood on the end. "I'm bleeding," he said morosely. "St Mungo's is the place to go when one is under the weather."

Draco rolled his eyes. Molly shared a look with Dr. Mandra, who was eyeing Draco very suspiciously.

"Antidote?" Dr. Mandra asked in a voice that sent shivers down Molly's spine.

Draco sent her a quelling look. "I am a Potions Master," he said in the tone of one stating the obvious. "When dundering fools," he shot an agitated look at his father, "come poking about in my experimentation lab, picking up broken bottles, accidents are likely to happen." He produced a small vial from his robes. "This will fix him."

Lucius snatched the vial and drank it immediately before turning to stare at the cut on his finger. His face fell when it didn't heal.

Then, just as quickly, a look of horror passed across his features. He turned to look at his son with furious recognition. "You sneaky, slimy, devilish little cretin," he snarled.

Draco smirked. "Yes, yes, you said it all before. I've told you once, and I'll tell you again – if you leave your Ogden's Old where just anyone can find it, you may as well be giving it away." He raised a finger sternly. "It doesn't give you an excuse to go ferreting around in my potions cabinet for revenge."

Lucius stared at his son with a look of unadulterated hatred. "That was a seventeen hundred bottle. You will replace it."

"Yes, yes," Draco said, making ushering movements with his hands. "Now I'm sure we've wasted enough of the doctor's time. Let's go home."

Dr. Mandra, despite her earlier mistrust, looked like she was biting back laughter. "It's no trouble," she said lightly, waving them out the door. "Take care."

Molly followed them out the doorway, nodding politely to Dr. Mandra. Just as she was about to turn away, down the other direction of the corridor, Lucius held out his hand to stop her.

"Thank you," he said stiffly, "for your assistance."

"Don't mention it," Molly said, a little breathless at the gesture. Before today, she wouldn't have thought it possible to hear a Malfoy apologise. But then, it had been several years since she had seen either of them.

Lucius paused a moment longer, seeming to war with something internally. "You should come to the Manor for dinner one night," he said finally, giving her a small nod. "You and your husband. I'll send an invitation."

Lucius swept away, and Molly realised that her mouth was, once again, hanging open. She pulled herself together and turned away, her mind racing at the thought of her and Arthur sitting down to dinner at the Manor dining table.

She began to laugh, chuckling quietly to herself as she walked away, and wondering just how expensive a bottle of Ogden's Old she and Arthur could afford as a gift.


End file.
